


Requiem

by Panadopolis



Category: Mother 1 | EarthBound Zero | EarthBound Beginnings
Genre: Aliens, Character Study, Gen, Psychic Abilities, Psychological Horror, very experimental
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-29 12:33:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21140513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Panadopolis/pseuds/Panadopolis
Summary: An interpretation of Giegue's thoughts during the final battle, foreshadowing his slow descent into madness and transformation into Giygas.





	Requiem

**Author's Note:**

> Tried my hand at psychological horror. Very experimental.
> 
> Originally written in October '18 for a starmen.net monthly prompt post.

He sensed two presences penetrate the stronghold. Human children, a boy and girl, both bestowed with PSI. No, upon further examination, there was a third presence. Another human boy, this one with no trace of PSI.

These were the ones his scouts had warned him about, the ones they feared. The human children with abnormally strong PSI. Their leader was the one he had been waiting for. The one with the blood of the traitor flowing through his veins.

He raised the mothership. He would meet them in battle. He would have vengeance.

He bombarded them with his power. The children raised psychic shields, attempting to protect themselves. It was pointless. The shields were but the tiniest of obstacles for him.

“Ninten! I am grateful to your family!”

It was a simple statement of fact. He was, in a sense, grateful. But it was much more than that.

Being raised by humans had isolated him from the rest of his race. They considered him a contamination, an imperfection. But the humans had nurtured something within him. He had developed a rare gift, something lacking in the rest of his race. He had _emotion_.

“Your great-grandparents, they raised me.”

Anger, love, rage, contempt… they were emotions forbidden by his people, creatures of logic and precision. They clouded the mind and impaired judgement.

But emotion also amplified PSI, raised its power twofold, even tenfold. It was an unexpected outcome, an aberration. His people needed data, needed to find an explanation for this phenomenon. And so the experiment began. One of their young was offered to the humans to raise.

“But George stole vital information from our planet that could be used to betray our people.”

Anger boiled within him. The traitor should have been honoured. A mere human, and a filthy powerless human at that, selected for such a vital experiment. _This _was how the traitor had thanked his race, by stealing forbidden knowledge and using it for his own selfish ends.

“And now their descendent is obstructing our plans, and must be stopped... Ninten! I mean you!”

The descendent. The traitor.

He had returned. Once again he was opposing my people.

Once again the traitor would be punished.

“Now leave! Perish with the other ugly earth people!”

The three children struggled. They could not hope to stand against his power, my otherworldly power.

They were not worth his time. They were not worthy of my power.

Go away. Go back to your homes. May you perish with the rest of your pathetic race.

“Foolish child! You cannot do anything with your meager powers… powers worthy of an insect!”

These children… His scouts had warned him many times about their powers. He found their concerns unfounded. He had no need to fear humans, least of all children. So what if these children had PSI potential far exceeding that known in humans, these mere _children_ whose powers rivaled those of his own advanced race. _His_ power had no equal.

The descendent struggled. Any other creature would have been eradicated by now. The descendent _should_ have been eradicated. But nevertheless the descendent lived.

He gazed upon him with contempt, this pathetic human struggling before him. The one with the blood of the traitor. He wanted to watch him struggle, wanted to see him in _fear_.

It was curious. His physical characteristics took after the traitor. He had the same face, the same hair colour, the same build. Yet he was missing the traitor’s eyes. Instead he had the gentle eyes of… of the other. The traitor’s wife. _Her_.

“Ninten… you alone I may save. Board the mothership with me.”

It was remarkable, seeing such advanced PSI techniques in the young of such a primitive species. He would be a valuable specimen for his race to study. To find the cause of this aberration.

The descendent must accept. He must know his situation is hopeless.

He would join me, and leave the vile humans to their fate, those ugly creatures of emotion, those who turn so easily upon their own kind. Those who attack and demonize that which they cannot understand.

Give in to your fear. Join me.

…You dare?! You would forsake everything, forsake your only chance at salvation, to stand aside those pathetic creatures you call _friends?!_ They are _nothing!_

It’s not right, to accept such a hopeless fate. To defy both logic and fear. It's not right...

“Then perish here with your friends – and all the other ugly earth people!!”

With a cry of rage I bombard them with my power.

The children struggle. None of them tries to attack. They cannot possibly hope to. They cannot even stand before my onslaught.

Soon they will fall.

Soon he will have vengeance.

Soon

_Take a melody_

That sound… The descendent must be singing. A requiem, perhaps? He should not be able to hear, deep within the mothership, his sanctum. His emotions must have formed a telepathic channel with the boy.

“Stop singing.”

I concentrate my power upon the descendent. His _friends_ are of no concern to me. They have no connection with me. I have no need to fear them.

_Simple as can be_

How is this possible? Only one person knows that song. But she is long departed from this world. The descendent cannot possibly know it. I do not understand.

That song… the boy’s requiem… Why…

Why does it hurt?

“Stop… singing!”

Again I attack the boy. I will finish him, and his pathetic requiem.

The descendent screams in agony. The girl rushes over, heals him with her own PSI. Another remarkable specimen. Perhaps he could spare her, store her with the other captured humans for study. But she is tainted by her connection with the descendent, the traitor, the one who committed high treason against my race. She must perish.

I prepare for a final blow

_Give it some words and_

The song! Why does it not stop? The descendent, I have crippled him, it is impossible. He cannot sing, the song must stop. So why… No, the other one. That other boy, the one without a trace of PSI. Why is he here? He is of no interest to me, an insignificant creature to be trodden upon in the name of conquest.

Why is he here? He should not be here. He is powerless.

Go away, insignificant boy.

Go back…

“S-stop singing!”

I raise my PSI once more. I will strike this insolent boy, this vile insect who dares defy me. He is unworthy of such power, but I

_Sweet harmony_

I heard the song again. It was a female voice. Was it her? Was it… _Maria?_

It was a happy time. A time when I knew no anger, no contempt, no fear. Only positive emotions, love, serenity, happiness.

It was

A lie!! My race dared raise me as a child of filthy humans, forced these horrid emotions upon me, turned me into a weapon! And now, these _children_ dare turn my only moments of happiness - my very memories - against me!

“STOP SINGING!”

A lie!! The girl, this traitorous girl – she dares sing the song of Maria, the only creature that truly cared for me! But why –

What is this? It hurts… It is impossible. I am within my sanctum. None can harm me. None can even approach me, such is the scope of my power. Nothing can hurt me, I cannot be in pain. So what are these aching sensations in my body? What is this pounding in my head?

Is this a new emotion? Could it be… fear?

No, it cannot. He was powerful. He was invincible. He did not _fear_.

My power was escaping from me. My emotions had amplified it, had twisted it beyond recognition. He was concerned, perturbed at this unexpected outcome. PSI was a tool for its user, it must be regulated and contained.

No, I refused. These children are my enemies. Let them perish! Let my powers run to the end of this earth! Let them extinguish all life, if they must! Let them

_Raise your voices_

The song!! No – why, why does it come back to me?! Multiple voices now, male and female in harmony. Where is it? The children – impossible, they cannot still be standing-

“You pathetic earth insects! Shut up – and stop singing!”

What hope have they? It is pointless, the song is but a requiem. It is sound waves, it cannot harm me, a being whose powers exceed even my own comprehension.

The song... it is all around me now. I do not understand. Sound is but vocalizations, the mere result of air pushed through the human vocal tract. It is harmless. So why, why does it have this effect on me?

It hurts…

_All day long now_

_Love grows strong now_

The song echoes in my head. The lyrics come back to me. I remember now. All day long, lying alone in that darkened room. Deprived from all contact except for the two humans, so that the subject would achieve heighted feelings of attachment, ensure optimum conditions for emotional development. All part of the experiment.

Maria… she would sing to him, and I would feel happy. She would hold me, and he would wag his tail. It was a time he had repressed, out of hatred for his weakness and his people and the traitor and the humans and his love… But I think fondly on that time. The memories fill me with positive emotions. I feel good. It was a simpler time, when I only knew of happiness and love, and nothing of rage and anger and hate and

Fear

“STOP…"

The song repeats. His body produces endorphins. Pleasurable feelings fill him, the product of hormones and memories and emotion. I feel good. So why…

“SINGING…!”

…does it hurt?

He is a creature of logic and precision. He does not hurt. He does not _feel_.

No, that is wrong. I feel… I do not know what I feel. These emotions, they rise up and produce conflict within my mind. I do not know what I feel. I do not know what I _want_ to feel.

The voices are in my head, they are singing. Half-remembered lyrics. This song… it makes me feel happy, but for some reason I don’t want to be. It’s not right. I’m trying to fight, trying to stop the voices, but I can’t. It’s not right…

Did the children do this to me? I do not know.

We fear that which we do not understand, that which we do not know…

_Sing a melody_

_Of_

The song! I had to stop this. I had to stop-

“S…t…o…p…”

But the song made me feel good. It the song stopped, I would…

I would be sad…

“s…i…ng…i…ng…”

No!! It’s not right, this song is manipulating my emotions!

The boy – the descendent - he did this to me – Ninten! I had to remember – I had to stop this –

Stop

I tried to grasp my power. My power was immense, unstoppable. I would finish this.

But I could not. My power had mutated and multiplied beyond even my own comprehension. My power was no longer my own. I could no longer control it.

And the song came back. The final words.

No

_Love_

Please

_Oh_

Stop

_Love_

“!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Sensations rushed through my body. I could not comprehend it. Nothing was right.

It’s not right.

It hurts.

“How could I be defeated by such a song…?”

It did not make sense. I was powerful, invincible. They were powerless, their only weapon a song. So why…

It violated every tenet of logic. The being of unimaginable power had been felled by eight simple sound forms.

“I will… sometime…”

I had to get away. I had to go back…

“Ninten! We SHALL meet again!”

This song. This boy. He had destroyed me.

I grasped my memory of the boy. Of his face.

I had to remember.

This was the face.

This… is what I fear…

**Author's Note:**

> I headcanon that PSI is tied to emotions and that one cannot achieve the full potential of PSI without them. For example, this would explain why Masked Man’s PK Special is weaker than Lucas’s at the equivalent level (apart from balancing reasons!). It’s not a perfect theory but I thought it worked well here to flesh out Giegue’s backstory and explain why George and Maria were assigned to raise him.


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